The present invention relates to a seal with anti-theft device for items having rod-like portions.
Said seal is particularly adapted to be applied to the temples of eyeglasses.
It is in fact well-known that eyeglasses are currently commonly provided, in points of sale, with adapted seals on which a customization marking or, more simply, the trademark of the manufacturer is provided.
In recent times, in particular, in said seals an anti-theft device is usually integrated which is capable of activating electronic alarm circuits usually arranged proximate to the exits.
Said seals usually comprise a box-like body from which a tab protrudes is which is constituted by consecutive articulated elements and is shaped so that it can fold up so as to form, in combination with said body, a containment seat for the rod-like portion of the item to which the seal is to be applied.
An electronic signal-emitting component of the per se known type is inserted in the box-like body.
The seal is further provided with a slider which nonreversibly engages a guide which is rigidly coupled to the box-like body.
The slider has a mushroom-shaped head which enters and slides within a complementarily shaped seat formed in the tab, so as to lock said tab in the folded position.
In this manner, the rod-like portion is retained in the seat formed by the folding of the tab through the nonreversible locking of the slider.
In particular, the slider slides at right angles to the rod-like portion, on the plane, formed by the box-like body, on which said rod-like portion rests.
The retention of the temple is in fact provided by the head of the slider and by the edge of the tab and is accordingly provided on a plane which is parallel to the resting plane.
This type of seal, although ensuring many advantages, unfortunately also entails drawbacks.
First of all, the fact should be noted that the structure of the body of the seal allows a limited travel of the slider, to the point that said slider can reach the end of its travel without having conveniently locked the rod-like portion.
Accordingly, in this type of seal there is a limited range of rod-like portions that can be retained therein without mutual rotations occurring.
For example, many problems can arise in trying to apply the anti-theft seal to items with rod-like portions having a particularly narrow cross-section.
Additionally, unfortunately the bulk of the anti-theft seal applied for example to the temples of eyeglasses is responsible for many difficulties linked to the operations performed in order to arrange said eyeglasses on the displays located in points of sale.
The seals can in fact be applied to a temple without ensuring the locking thereof in the containment seat, and although they prevent extraction they can easily rotate with respect to said temple, assuming an inclined position and thus making it difficult to arrange the eyeglasses in the displays.
Moreover, currently commercially available seals also cannot be applied to items which have considerably large rod-like portions, because the containment seat that they form has a rather small cross-section with respect to the overall dimensions of the seal.
Additionally, the seals that are currently widely used can be reused only partially, since in order to disengage them from the portions to which they have been applied it is necessary to break the mushroom-shaped head of the slider; accordingly, a replacement for the slider must be available before being able to reuse the seal by applying it to a new rod-like portion.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a seal with anti-theft device for items having rod-like portions which solves the drawbacks mentioned above of conventional seals.
Within the scope of this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a seal with anti-theft device which cannot be slid off the item to which it is applied and is more compact than conventional models.
Another object is to provide a seal with anti-theft device which can be also applied to rod-like portions having a small cross-section without the possibility of unwanted movements or rotations.
Another object is to provide a seal with anti-theft device which can be applied without problems even to rather large rod-like portions.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a seal which can be fully reused after the item to which it is applied has been sold.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a seal with anti-theft device with which the slider cannot be moved to the end of its travel without locking the rod-like portion for which it is designed.
Another object is to provide a seal with anti-theft device which is comparable in cost to conventional seals.
This aim, these objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are achieved by a seal with anti-theft device for items having rod-like portions, characterized in that it comprises a hollow body which is suitable to contain an electronic signal-emitting component and forms a plane of arrangement for a rod-like portion, two parallel and mutually opposite guides protruding from said body, each guide having at least one sawtooth engagement surface for the nonreversible sliding, in a direction which is perpendicular to the plane of arrangement, of a slider which has complementary sawtooth engagement surfaces, said rod-like portion being retained between said plane of arrangement and a parallel plane of arrangement formed by said slider.